


Little devil

by Timpaxew



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Kid Fic, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Parent-Child Relationship, Tony Adopts Everyone, child solider, matt Murdock meets the avengers, stick is abusive, usually I write matt as peter’s Big brother but how the tables have turned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 13:31:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15365739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timpaxew/pseuds/Timpaxew
Summary: Tony’s counting his blessings, because honestly this could have been worse.Babysitting a de-aged eleven year old vigilante may be a lot harder than he’d thought it be, but at least Peter’s here to help. And at least no one else was turned into children.Baby daredevil was a lot less cute than Tony would have thought. This whole child solider thing was more depressing, than anything.Tony was going to kill this stick guy.





	Little devil

Daredevil of course, was acting like a child. “I told you to wear your com!” Tony rose his faceplate to yell over to the idiot vigilante, who had somehow figured it would be a great idea for him should join the wizard fighting party they were having. 

Sure they were understaffed to be going after a threat like this, but that doesn’t matter, he was going to call Peter, anyway. That doesn’t mean Daredevil can show up right on time when he was needed, even though no one invited him. 

The Devil smirked at him from the other side of the abandoned warehouse’s roof, “like you didn’t put some kind of tracker on it, Stark.” He paused, “‘Sides, I was out for civvie stuff. Unlike some of you, I have a life outside of getting beat up.” 

“I own a company!” Tony scoffed. 

“oh, you do?” Daredevil‘s voice was that clearly faked one, the one that sounded like he was constantly choking on gravel. But it wasn’t the one he used when talking to criminals, that one was worse, “I haven’t seen it” he took a step back without looking to stand on edge of the roof as he spoke. 

“Wha- you haven’t seen it? I’m- Stark Industries!” Tony uncrossed his arms, exasperated. 

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that.” Daredevil tapped his knuckles on the side of his head, where the stupid black scarf was only just not covering the tips of his ears. 

“So civvie stuff then, that why you’re going all ‘devil of Hell’s Kitchen’ today?” Tony uncrossed his arms and walked closer to the vigilante, dropping the conversation that somehow gave him the feeling he was being made fun of. 

“Yeah, can’t exactly bring the suit with me, course I don’t need mine to fight, either” Daredevil did a slightly exaggerated shrug. 

“Hey-“ Tony started, before he was interrupted by Cap’s shield skittering across the roof towards them. 

“Hey could you two stop bickering, we have wizards to fight” Steve’s head rose over the side of the roof as he clambered onto it. 

“Oh my god you sound like if my grandma fought wizards” Peter sighed exaggeratedly as he landed on the roof next to Cap. “Bickering? Who says that” Peter borderline giggled as he walked past Cap. 

“Oh, hey Mr.Stark,” Peter paused when he saw Daredevil, “oh! Hey double D!” Tony could see his smile through the fabric his mask as he dashed across the roof, “what did I hear about wizards, because whatever it is I’m in” 

“You know The Devil?” Tony looked exasperatedly at Peter, “we’ve been trying to get in contact with him for weeks!” 

“Yeah, course, Reds the greatest” Peter smiled.

“What- how’d you two meet, then” Tony moved to stand by Peter. 

Daredevil did that annoying as hell thing where he cocked his head to the side a little and then smirked, like he thought something you didn’t know was hilarious. 

“What?” Daredevil said, voice full of faux innocence, “Spidey, don’t you remember?” He smirked at Peter’s shocked expression, because of course he actually acted like a normal human being when talking to Peter, even if he was always an edgy vigilante. Tony will stand by his points and refuse to believe it’s just him the Devil doesn’t like. The Devil did a little aborted half smile as he turned to face Peter, “Why I remember it like it was yesterday-“ 

“Stop! Stop,” Peter waved his hands frantically. 

“Oh, would you like to tell the story, Spidey?” Daredevil smiled ‘innocently’ at him. 

“No, you can do it I guess, m’not gonna get out of it now” Peter threw his hands in the air “can you at least tell it after we’re done fighting the wizards?” 

“Fine” Daredevil smirked before diving off the building. Because of course that’s how he chooses to make his exit. 

Tony turned towards Peter, “I miss the kid that was flustered to meet his heroes”

“I have some excellent advice for you Mr.stark… ‘‘never meet your heroes’” Peter smiled at him. “After the third or fourth time they drop their own armor on their feet, they’re rather disappointing.” Peter spoke sarcastically. 

“Are we really that disappointing?” Captain frowned as he walked over to them. 

“No Cap, you’re not disappointing,” Peter turned towards Tony with the worst shit-eating grin Tony had seen on him, “some people, on the other hand” 

Tony yelled after him as Peter jumped off the building to follow the horned wonder, “proud of you, asshole” Tony’s laugh fell as he turned back to Captain.

“I love how he implied you weren't his hero” Tony said towards him. 

“Yeah and you're a disappointing one,” Captain shot back before he rose his shield to his chin, “Do we have to jump off the building too now?” he said, looking over the ledge. 

“You can, If you really want to” Tony closed his faceplate before launching off the roof, flying down to the alleyway.

Daredevil was talking to Peter so quietly Tony had to wonder if he knew about Peter’s enhanced hearing. With how quick Peter was to tell people that kind of stuff, probably. Peter looked up and closed his eyes, the white lenses of the mask squinting and then closing out. “Ok.. um… there’s ten in there, one has a gun of some sort? That smells like magic? He might be the leader, I think.” 

Daredevil smiled and If Tony wasn’t so unnerved about how The Devil was smiling, he’d be more unnerved by the fact that The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was proud of his kid. He’s also fairly concerned with the implication that Peter was getting outside training from vigilantes of questionable good-role-model-ness. Well, it wasn’t like Tony was a good role model but still, It’s principal. Tony Stark doesn’t share protégés. It’s his son. 

Daredevil sat up from where he was kneeling on the pavement and looked towards Tony, “there’s eleven,” Peter looked dejected and Horns waved him off, “he’s in the basement” he explained, his voice falling from the hyper-gravely one to a softer tone he had to guess was his actual voice, “and he has another one of those guns that,” Daredevil scrunched his nose, which almost looked absurd on his face, “a gun that definitely smells like magic” 

So Daredevil had enhanced senses too? Maybe? “ Wait hold on super sniffers, what does magic smell like?” Tony laughed, throwing his hands in a shrug, “please share with the class” 

Peter spoke first “you know, like Dr.Stange’s portals, but… these guys smell more like burnt sugar” Peter scrunched up his nose, Tony could see it through the mask and it was definitely a cute look on him. 

“Ok, P-Spidey, stay away from the ones with guns, you can help me and Cap take out the ones inside,” Tony looked over to Daredevil, “Lucifer, you take out the one down stairs, since you seem to be the only one thats got eyes on him” 

Peter laughed next to him, “yeah double d, don’t lose sight of him, he’s totally yours”

Daredevil made a sound that was either a huff of confirmation or some sort of laugh, it could honestly go either way. “I’ve got him in my sights” 

Cap moved the shield in his arm before walking towards the door to the abandoned warehouse in front of him, “You want me to knock this in?” 

Peter clapped next to him, “holy shit what an entrance.” 

“Language” both The fucking Devil, and Captain said at almost the exact same time. Tony couldn’t help the huff of laughter at that, it was perfect. 

“Yeah Peter, don’t fucking curse” Tony laughed as he motioned Cap to do his thing. 

In about a second the door was off its hinges and there were ten wizards staring at them with looks of varying fear and annoyance. And of course, as his wonderful Peter had pointed out, one of them had a stupid looking gun, that he didn’t even need super senses to know it probably smelled like bad candy. 

Cap had already thrown his shield at one of them, the resulting thunk echoed in the newfound quiet of the warehouse. That woke the others up from the shock they had been experiencing, and everything broke into motion. 

Tony brought up his hand and switched his repulsors to ‘stun’ he took out two of the grunts before the others got smart and dodged. 

Tony watched out the corner of his eye as Daredevil rushed off towards a rackety looking staircase. Good thing he didn’t decide to go after the one downstairs, that looks disgusting. 

Tony easily dodged a ray blast from the gun, that might not even have been aimed at him. The one holding the gun, the one Peter had pointed out as ‘leader’ was looking less like a proper one by the second. He was shaking in his boots and couldn’t aim for shit.

Peter was on the ceiling of the warehouse and shooting webs at a few more of the smaller guys while Captain engaged with them down below, distracting them while Peter webbed their feet to the ground. At least for once in his life Peter wasn’t going exactly not according to the plan. So, the idiot with the candy gun was his responsibility, then. 

Tony moved to engage, easily dodging another shot from the candy gun. It hit the wall behind him, a light pink light washing over the wall. It left the room smelling like burnt sugar. Tony couldn’t even hassle a guess at what this gun did beside make a mean air freshener.

It’s not like he planned to find out, he was getting bored with watching this guy fumble with his gun, and Captain was reporting in his ear that they only had a few guys left on their end. 

Tony smiled as he shot the gun out of the guy’s hand, the shocked look on his face would be priceless if Tony wasn’t already bored with messing with him. Tony made quick work to knock him out before turning back to Peter and Captain. 

Cap was standing over the last unconscious goon, bringing his shield back to his arm. 

Peter crawled down from the ceiling and waved as he started tying the other wizards to the floor with his webs.

Tony looked around the room until his eyes fell on the stairs “can you still hear the devil fighting down there? If his guy was as useless as ours, he shouldn’t be taking this long.” Tony shrugged, “he probably could have taken out half the ones up here with one throw of those sticks he uses” 

Tony still can’t believe the idiot fought with those things, it was absurd. More absurd was how he fought so well. Seriously, where did this guy train? Was he bit by a radioactive ninja? Who knows, Tony doesn't even know the guy’s powers, let alone his life story. And unlike his powers, Tony doesn't care to know the guy’s tragic backstory. 

Tony paged Strange to come pick up the gaggle of useless wizards and do whatever magic law thing to them. Probably something with a magic judge and magic lawyers. Put them in magic jail for wizards, where they belong for their wizard crimes. 

“He's not there?” Peter was untangling a piece of webbing he’d somehow tangled around his own leg. “I can’t hear him down stairs anymore?” 

“Don’t know, idiot doesn’t have a comm” Tony shrugged. 

“Did he go back to his civvies?” Steve asked, jogging over to them. 

“No, he would have said goodbye” Peter called from where he was still sitting on the ground. 

“How are you so friendly with the devil,” Tony asked, “he was literally ignoring us for months” 

Peter shrugged “we’ve had team-ups” Peter looked down to mess with the webbing around his ankle “he's not really the type for Avengers level threats” Peter seemed to have just now thought to use his strength to rip the web off, looking proud of himself, “He's a friendly neighborhood Devil” Peter shrugged up at him. “You know, protecting the little guy” he did a motion with his hands as he said it. 

Tony ignored the sass,“He would only talk to Clint!” Tony frowned under his mask, “not even Nat could tail him for us, what even are his powers?”

Peter shrugged, “don’t know” 

Tony scoffed “well, let’s look for your mysterious horned friend then, Petey” 

Tony ended up being the one to find the missing Devil, while walking along the wall towards the back of the warehouse’s basement. Or he thought he did, when Friday detected a heat signature behind one of the larger crates.

That thought was quickly disproven when Friday informed him it was a child. 

“A kid?” How’d he get into what was a battlefield not ten minutes ago. Maybe the kid was homeless or something. They should have scanned for signs of life before going in. Instead of just depending on those two bloodhounds smelling bad guys really well. How hadn’t either of them picked up on a whole child. Tony’s pretty sure those smell strongly, and very differently from bad guys. “Ok, um, Fri, when i see him, put him through facial recognition, see if he's a missing child.” Tony said to his ai. 

Tony found himself getting angrier at those wizards as he walked to where the kid was pacing. If they had him here, if those assholes layed a burnt sugar smelling hand on this kid. He’d have to break into Azkaban, or wherever wizard jail was and reevaluate how hard he should have been hitting them. 

Tony paced closer to the kid, who was standing in the shadows, pressed against the wall and staring at him like he had two heads.

Granted, that probably wouldn’t be too uncommon of a reaction to seeing Ironman. Just, this kid looked like they were staring through him. 

“What are you?” The kid blurted out before falling into what almost looked like a fighting stance, still obscured in the darkness. It was kind of cute, this little ‘cowering in the darkness’ look the kid had going on. 

“It’s ok, it’s ok, it is I, Iron Man” Tony did an extravagant motion towards himself with one hand. 

The kid cocked his head to the side, like he didn’t understand something. “Did Stick send you?” He said after a moment, taking a step forwards, further out of the shadows. 

Stick? Was that like, one of the wizards. Stick like a wand? That’s a shitty name for a wizard. That’s like naming a cop ‘gun’. And why would a wizard send him, was this kid expecting someone? Tony wanted to punch a wizard more now. How long had they had this kid here? 

Tony put a hand on the kids shoulder, the movement aimed to comfort the lost and clearly confused child, “hey, we’ll get you back to your-“ 

That must have been a bad idea, because in a single fluid movement the kid had flipped Tony (suit and all) over his shoulder. 

“Who sent you!” The kid said over him, putting his small foot over his metal-clad throat. It didn’t do much of anything, because metal, but the shock of the action was enough to knock the air out of his lungs. 

Tony looked up at the kid from the ground. Really looked at him. He was wearing a completely ill fitting suit, the arms and legs rolled, arms up all the way to his elbows. The loose fitting suit jacket was falling off and the tie was hanging from his small neck. He had a scarf over his eyes, it wasn’t wrapped properly around his head and was falling over his mouth and chin. 

“Oh.” Tony said smartly, starting to sit up before he heard the kid’s little voice, threatening him with something. So that’s what the candy gun did. 

“Friday, could you tell the others I- i think i found Daredevil” Tony said, making sure to keep his voice down. So the kid wouldn’t be able to hear him through the suit. 

“Who are you talking to?” The kid- Little Daredevil, apparently- yapped, “hey-“ 

Tony interrupted him, “hey Horns, exactly how much do you remember” Tony motioned to all of him in a waving gesture. What did those wizards to do him? How in the hell did that gun work? This is why Tony hates magic. 

“I remember Stick told me people will come for me!” Horns shifted the scarf on his head, frowning at him. 

“well I’m not coming for you in order to hurt you, and I don’t know who this Stick is, but-“ Tony pushed the kid off himself as gently as he could manage with the kid still actively trying to attack him. 

“Who are you!” The kid snapped, tiny fist dropping to his sides. 

“Would you believe if I said ‘superhero?’” Tony spoke, moving to sit crisscross applesauce in front of the kid, which was awkward in the suit, but he was dealing. “Because I’m a superhero” 

Little Daredevil scrunched his nose “Those aren’t real” then he paused, cocking his head to the side “you aren’t lying?”

“You’re telling me, kid” Tony chuckled, slapping his metal hands on his equally metal knees, it clinked awkwardly as he smiled at the kid. 

The Devil stared up at him, face still scrunched up in clear confusion. 

“Yeah.. Yeah, you’re like, eleven right?” Tony asked.

“Yes.” The Little Devil fell into what, now that he was paying attention, was definitely a defensive stance. Maybe he remembered more about his adult life than he let on. Maybe more than he realized.

“Do you know about Captain America?” Tony asked.

“Yes?” He cocked his head to the side, “like the comics?” 

“Im friends with Captain America!” Tony gestured with his hands, kids loved the ‘I know Captain America’ card. 

“That was a lie!” The kid accused, side stepping back into the shadows. 

 

Tony scoffed, “we’re working on it!”

“Liar!” The kid spat, taking a step back before lunging towards him. 

“Woah!” Tony blocked a very tiny fist, “ok, ok, I’m working on it, maybe he could try a little harder” 

“More lies,” The kid threw a punch that Tony was only barely able to block. Was this like, instinct via memories of adulthood? 

Tony took another step back, “hey-hey, kid, I wouldn’t hurt you,” Tony half blocked a tiny, but effective, kick. “Use your apparent lie detector powers on that” 

Tiny Daredevil froze, before cocking his head to the side again, “that… wasn’t a lie?” 

Tony smiled, “Yeah, that’s right, you funky little polygraph” 

 

Daredevil pressed his lips and took a step closer “I can’t… I can’t hear your heart..” he brought his hand to his temple, “it sounds like- it sounds… wrong?” 

Tony let out a breathy laugh, “that’d probably be the metal in my chest…” Tony paused, “you can hear my heart?” Again, What even we’re Daredevil’s powers. Whatever they were, he sure had them when he was eleven. Unless thats more leftover from when he was an adult.

“Oh, I probably shouldn’t have told you that” Daredevil shrunk back, “can’t reveal the weapons” 

“Your weapon?” Tony asked. What was Daredevil up to? Who thinks of their powers as weapons? Tony doesn’t even think of his ‘powers’ as weapons and that’s exactly what they are. 

“I am the weapon?” The kid stood up straighter as he said that. He look determined, besides the question in his voice. 

“...oh” That knocked the air out of his chest, and Tony blinked at the kid, before regaining his composure, “hey, you heard me when I said I wouldn’t hurt you, right?” He did a motion with his arms, “I wasn’t lying” 

“No.. you weren’t.” Daredevil furrowed his eyebrows “Why?”

Tony almost ignored that frankly depressing question. “Why not?” 

Daredevil frowned at him, 

Tony shook his head before talking to the kid again, “Ok, hey buddy if I said, totally true, that you’d be safest right now if you just hung with me for a hot minute-“ 

“I will follow you,' the tiny Daredevil spoke up, steady jaw locked as he fell into a position. 

A position that it takes Tony a moment to realise is another perfect stance for fighting. The little kid was looking at him determinedly, something in his face like a soldier would do.

Oh fuck. Tony’s breath caught at the realization. Maybe, maybe Daredevil really had lost all his memories. And maybe he didn't want memories of a childhood like that to begin with. Tony shook himself before looking towards the kid again, “ok, ok, first order of business, what’s your name, buddy?” Tony almost felt bad for this breach of secret identity, but he wasn’t referring to a child as Devil for the foreseeable future. 

Daredevil fell into a paced step behind him, “names’ Matt” 

“Matt?” Tony lead the kid back to where he had decided to meet the others “That’s a cool name” 

“Yeah, like the saint” Horns Looked like he was thinking, little hands curling slightly, “m’dad liked it” the kid looked up at him with a dopey smile on his face, posture loose and happy for a blessed moment before he stiffened again. 

Tony stopped beside the door to the stairs leading to the upper floors of the warehouse, looking down at the kid- Matt. He looked absurd, in an adult size suit and about eleven years old. 

“Ok, you’re gonna have to take that off before we leave,” Tony motioned to his scarf-mask, “you look like a kid on Halloween, with the prototype Daredevil’s scarf and everything.” 

“Daredevil?” The kid questioned.

“he’s another superhero” Tony said before shrugging. 

“Do you mind?” Tony asked softly, putting both hands on the kids mask. He shook his head, and Tony slowly lifted it off the kids head. Brown hair flopped over his forehead, messy with the hat-hair, and the kid looked down at the floor, not meeting his gaze. 

“I’ll hold onto your mask” Tony stashed it and turned back to the kid. 

“It’s mine?” The kid was furrowing his brows, curling his fist again. 

“You were wearing it, weren’t you?” Tony shrugged off the comment, thinking over what he was going to do with an eleven year old vigilante. Probably what he already does with the fifteen year old vigilante. So whatever it was, it probably wouldn't end well, but not terribly.

“I guess..” the kid said quietly, toying with the tie that hung loose around his neck. It was pretty dang cute, honestly. 

Tony took a step closer to the exit and motioned for Matt to follow. The kid was frozen, clearly hesitant.“You good?” Tony asked.

“my cane isn’t- I don’t have my cane” he whispered, Tony doesn’t even know if he was even supposed to hear that.

“Your cane?” Tony asked, anyway. 

“I should have it, my cane, so I can fit in, be a secret warrior. For the war?” The kid looked up at Tony’s no doubt horrified expression, but kept talking, “I know it’s cheating to use it, but I need to act like all the other blind kids.” The kid spoke like he was coming up with excuses, defending himself from whatever he thought Tony was thinking.

“Well, we aren’t fighting any wars right now,” Tony tried to pick his words, this was.. a situation. “I’ll do the fighting if we need to” he lightly maneuvered the kid by the shoulder before something clicked. Oh. Blind. Oh. 

“Hey, buddy?” Tony kneeled so he was eye-level with the kid, “you wanna hold onto my elbow,” Tony paused “or something?”

The kid pressed his lips together, cocking his head to the side, “sure.. that should work to look normal.”

“Yeah, I guess” Tony shrugged. Refraining from blurting out that he shouldn’t have to worry about that. How does a kid end up like this? Tony doesn’t want to think about it. 

Matt looked up at him, opening his mouth to say something before closing it again. “Excuse me, sir?”

“Don’t call me that.” Tony said quickly, “call me Tony,”’ he retconned, “whatcha want?” He tried to make his voice lighter.

The kid slowly brought a hand to touch his arm, “why are you.. made of metal?” 

“Oh! No, it’s-“ Tony exited the suit, the kid looked shocked as it fell off around him. “It’s just a suit”

“Because you’re a superhero?” The kid asked before scrunching up his nose again, the action actually looked kind of cute on his tiny face, it was almost hard to imagine he’d grow up to be an overly edgy superhero. “You smell like overly expensive shampoo”

Tony huffed a laugh at that, “Do I?” He acted pensive, “it must be the expensive shampoo” he chuckled as the kid scowled at him.

“Hey buddy, we’re gonna go meet some of my friends, are you ok with meeting some more superheroes?” Tony put his other hand over the kids arm, which was tangled over his elbow. 

“Can we meet Captain America?” The kid looked up at him, “even if you aren’t friends” 

“We’re friends,” Tony shook his head when the kid opened his mouth, “I know I was lying before, but you know how friends are, we were fighting not too long ago” 

“I can’t have any friends” Matt looked somewhat far off and Tony pressed his lips together, “Well, you do now” he took his other hand away from the kid’s, pulling him along by his elbow. 

The kid looked back towards him, confusion clear in his eyes. That’s- that’s some sad shit. Jesus, what kind of childhood did Daredevil even have? Christ, how old even was Daredevil? How long ago was this? Is he even ok? Tony shook his head, looking back towards the kid. “We’re almost back to where the others are, they wanted to meet on the roof” Tony said quietly to the kid, who nodded. 

“Why the roof?” He asked, and Tony chuckled, “superheroes like to hang out on rooftops.” Tony smiled to himself at his own joke.

Tony’s phone rang as he and Matt climbed up the staircase of the apartment building, towards the roof access. 

“Hold on kid, I’ve gotta take this” Tony said, grabbing his phone with his left hand, the kid still tangled on his right. He hummed in response, untangling from Tony’s arm and moving to sit with his knees to his chest on the stairwell’s floor. 

It was Steve, “oh, hey.” Tony spoke into the receiver, 

“So, Friday said you found Daredevil, you coming to the meeting place or does he need to go to the med bay?” 

“Yeah I’ve got him, we’re coming now” Tony looked over to the eleven year old watching him talk, “a maybe to medical” 

“When I get there, don’t freak out,” Tony said into the receiver before hanging up. He held out his arm to Matt before they continued up the steps. Tony knew the kid didn’t need to “pretend to be normal” or whatever he’d said before while alone in the staircase, but if he had the kind of childhood Tony was growing closer to believing he did, the kid needed someone to hold onto. He wasn’t going to mention it. 

“Are you still fighting Captain america?” Matt asked him, “He’s really strong, he could hurt you” The kid spoke softly, not betraying the clear worry of his words. The kid did squeeze his arm tighter, though. 

“No, were not really fighting anymore.” Tony brushed off the kid’s, admittedly cute, worry. 

“They’re freaking out up there.” The little devil said non-committedly, “they think you’re friend Daredevil is hurt” The kid cocked his head to the side again, “the older kid is freaking out” 

Oh Peter, Tony didn’t know what to do with the knowledge that if the kid could tell Peter was a kid, the adult Devil definitely could. “Oh, yeah, we should hurry up.” Tony said, hurrying their pace.

As Tony opened the door to the roof Steve spoke first, “why didn’t you just fly up here,” his voice cut off and then started again, “is that a child?” 

Tony waved him off, “this is Matt,” Tony motioned to the child who was pressing closer to his side, the hiding only lasted for a second before he moved to stand in front of Tony, falling into a fighting stance again. He was glaring at the others, trying to stand in between them and Tony. 

“Kid, remember what I told you about my friends, the smaller one is my friend Spider-man, and that’s Captain America, with The giant metal frisbee.” Tony explained, putting his hand on Matt’s shoulder again. He felt him relax, turning back towards Tony, “i know he’s your friend, but if he tries to fight you again, i will protect you” 

“That’s sweet, Matt” Tony sighed, “he won’t, and I don’t need you to protect me”

The kid shrugged him off, “I will follow you” he furrowed his eyebrows again, “you’re friends are our allies, right?” 

Tony hummed before Peter broke the silence. “Is that-“ 

Tony interrupted him, “yeah, this is Matt, and Matt, you can call Spider-Man here Peter, he’s nice once you get to know him.” 

Matt nodded before walking slowly towards Peter, like he was examining him, “Your heart beats too fast!” The kid looked back at Tony before staring at Peter again, mouth open slightly.

“Yeah little dude, it’s like a hummingbird, isn’t it?” Peter moved to sit on the ground in one of his usual crouches. Matt nodded at him, a smile creeping onto his lips. 

Tony was almost surprised to see Captain moving to stand next to him, “so that’s him, isnt it? what happened?”

Tony sighed, watching the kid talk excitedly to Peter. “Don’t know, some wizard thing, we’ll have to call Strange back” Tony paused, “he’s like a child soldier, or something.” 

He saw how Captain tensed up at that, “and he doesn’t trust me?” 

“I think he likes you, you’re Captain America,” he shook his head, “he just wants to protect me, i think” Tony huffed a laugh before taking on a more serious voice, “He doesn't remember anything, past his age” Tony watched the kids for a second before speaking “Eleven” He added, not looking towards Steve. 

Peter was laughing from where he and Matt were sitting on the ground together, Matt was saying something proudly, smiling wildly. Tony couldn’t help but smile to himself, “alright gang, we need to get back to the tower, or at least off this gross roof” 

Tony silently texted Friday to buy a cane and some glasses with one hand, the other arm once again commandeered by a tiny superhero. 

Peter had changed into his civilian clothes, since they couldn’t go roofhopping with a fifth grader. And Spider-man and Iron man walking around New York’s city streets with a fifth grader didn't look much better. 

So he’s just out for a nice day on the town with his intern and… family friend’s kid, who he happens to be babysitting today. The only hole in their plan, well the biggest hole in their plan, is the fact that no one would trust Tony to babysit their child. 

And if that was the story they were going with, he might as well go with it too. Steve was off at the tower trying to get ahold of Strange, with the promise that he’d call when he got him. 

“So, Matt, Peter, how would you two tykes feel about some ice-cream?” Tony asked, shutting off his phone and looking towards them on the rooftop. They were still huddled on the edge of the roof speaking of something Tony hadn't been giving enough attention to, to piece together the jist of what it was about. Matt was smiling again, which was nice to see. 

Peter perked up at the mention of ice cream, and Matt looked like he had just promised immortality. “Really?” Matt stared up at him from Peter’s arm, eyebrows almost at his hairline. 

“Yeah, of course, Tony laughed, “and i asked another friend of mine, her name’s Friday, shes going to send one of my suits, the metal ones, down here with glasses, a cane, and some clothes that will actually fit.” Tony shook his head, “We’ll go out once she gets here.” 

All three of them looked up at the mechanical sound of his repulsors, Matt far earlier and far more surprised. The suit dropped the goods on the roof and Matt ran up to it. “These are for me?” He asked, picking up the white and red cane and looking it over. 

“Yeah, of course little dude, You can go back into the stairs to change, we'll wait for you.”

“You wont leave?” The kid sounded hesitant to leave them alone, and christ was that sad. Not for the first time, Tony worried his lip over what this kid had been through. 

“No, of course not,” Tony said, sitting down on the cement roof for show. Peter joined him a second later. The kid nodded before leaving to get changed. 

“He can still, hear us, by the way,” Peter looked over to him. 

“I assumed, you know he can hear heartbeats?” Tony asked, messing with his watch. 

“Yeah, he told me my heart was too fast when we first met” Peter smiled, “like a hummingbird’s” 

“How did you two meet?” Tony looked over to Peter. 

Peter sighed “ill tell you later” 

Tony didn't get to respond, because Matt had made his entrance onto the roof. He was wearing one of the Spider-man T-shirts that Tony bought to mock Peter, and some pants Fri must have bought. 

“You two ready?” Tony asked, getting up from the ground and stretching his back. 

Tony pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket and held it up to his ear. Cap was calling, news about Strange, Good. He'd be able to get adult-devil back sooner, then. Unless he wanted to babysit all day today. 

“Hey, Steve” he greeted, waiting for a response on the line as he herded two kids down the street. 

“Hey, i got in contact with Dr.Strange,” Captain started, there was a sound that was either sad or frustrated, Tony couldn't tell without seeing his face. Either way, most likely not good. “Strange is busy with our wizard friends, apparently its ‘not his kind of magic’ and he doesn't know what to do with them.” 

“Jesus” Tony said under his breath, ignoring the echo of a tiny ‘language’ in front of him. Tony’s smile faltered when he spoke into the receiver again, “So how long until he’ll be able to deal with this?” 

“He says he doesn't know,” Cap was silent for a second, “And that if it's not his magic, why would he be able to reverse it?” he could hear shuffling on the other side of the phone “I'm quoting him by the way.” 

“Yeah i got that,” Tony sighed, “So i guess im babysitting for awhile longer?”

“Yeah, sorry, Tony” Steve sighed. 

“Nah Steve, its fine. Im taking the kids for ice cream, anyway.” Tony spoke into the receiver. 

There was a laugh on the other end, “sounds fun” Cap said before Tony hung up on him. 

Tony shoved his phone back into his pocket as he watched the kid bound forward towards the ice cream parlor. He looked so excited, and so like a kid, that Tony could almost forget he was Daredevil. And at the same time, with how happy he looked, Tony could almost forget the kid was a soldier. He couldn't forget that depressing fact for too long, though. The kid stopped in his tracks as soon as he reached the door, and held it open, looking at the ground as he waited for the others to walk through. 

“Thank you Matt, its nice of you to hold the door” Tony spoke lightly, covering the anger at whoever told this child he had to. He’d find them, christ. Did they do that to any other kids? Are they still doing that to other kids? Tony balled his hands tighter at his sides as he walked through the door. 

Matt nodded and moved to follow the others into the parlor. 

“You two go get us a table?” Tony smiled, “What flavor do you two want?”

Tony smiled at the slightly shocked Cashier, “Hey, ill take one of those little, chocolate dipped cones with sprinkles on top and a scoop of Stark raving hazelnut.” Tony looked over to where the kids were settling into a seat by the window, “What do you two want?”

“Cookies and cream, the usual” Peter called back before motioning to Matt for his order. Matt said something quietly to Peter, who shrugged him off with a laugh. After another second he looked back up to Tony, “Matt wants a scoop of vanilla in a cone!”

Tony turned back to the cashier, who was staring at him and to the kids and back, “Babysitting.” He shrugged, “Two scoops of Cookies and Cream in a cone, but put that into a bowl, or he will drop it.” Tony grabbed a handful of plastic spoons from the counter, “And a kids scoop of vanilla in a cone.” Tony threw some money in the tip jar before turning back to the table, “Hey Pete, could’ya help carry some of this?” 

Peter hummed before walking over, telling Matt to keep the table.

Tony smiled at the cashier as he handed Peter his icecream, carrying Matt’s cone in one hand and his own in the other. 

“You know, i have enhanced senses too,” Peter spoke with a laugh as they settled into their seats, taking a bite of his ice cream. 

Matt’s jaw dropped at that, “really?” He yelped.

“Yes, but” Peter brought his finger to his face as a “Shh” motion, “Remember, we gotta be quiet, no one else can know about that, now” 

Daredevil narrowed his eyes and nodded, licking his ice cream. He looked adorable.

Peter smiled, “so, hows the ice cream?” 

Matt took another lick of his, “I like vanilla” He paused for a second, “but the waiter used the scooper to dish out some of the strawberry ice cream earlier,” he wrinkled his nose, “its not my favorite” He took another lick, “The waiter was chewing some mint gum too, so it all taste like mint” 

Peter chuckled, “Well, your senses are better than mine, then” 

Daredevil smirked, somehow the look of it was better on a tiny face, or maybe he just liked fun-sized Daredevil more than his adult counterpart. “Well, you have one whole extra sense then me, so, i think it evens out” 

Tony snorted at that comment, laughing into his own ice cream. 

Peter froze mid laugh, motioning for his attention. “Mr.Stark, My spidey sense is going-” He was interrupted by the shattering of glass. 

Before Tony could activate his gauntlet-watch Matt had gotten up from his chair to stand in front of him, falling into his usual defensive stance. “Don't worry Tony, i'll protect you.” 

Tony smiled, it was fucked up, but it was kind of cute, in its own incredibly terrible child-soldiery way. “Hey bud, i'm a superhero, remember?” Tony spoke softly, pushing past the kid and activating his gauntlet. 

“I activated my gauntlet, its like the hand piece of my metal suit” Tony narrated for the eleven year old ready to fight his battles. They weren't even his battles, this was like, petty crime. These were Peter’s battles. These were Daredevil’s battles and Matt was ready to fight them in Tony’s name. 

“Oh buddy,” Tony laughed, moving closer to the would-be robber, “You picked the wrong ice cream shop to try and rob today,” he's just a kid- late teens, maybe earlier twenties. He was shaking in his boots just picking up the gun, and now a superhero was after him. He was terrified.

He aimed his repulsor at him, that was usually enough for the stupider non super-villain criminals to go running for their lives. This one couldn't be too smart, he was currently robbing a shop with three superheroes in it. Granted he only could have recognized Tony, and Daredevil was currently eleven, but the point still stands. 

The guy rose the gun in his hand towards Tony, “You should- You better turn and walk out of here before... or i’ll shoot you” the kid was stuttering and the gun was shaking in his hand. 

Before Tony could say some other snide remark at the guy, he hears a startlingly familiar battle cry as a flash of red lunges across the shop. Before Tony can even react he’s been pushed out of the way. Matt was doing some fancy acrobatic stunt that ended with kicking the gun out of the guys hand. The guy just stared slack-jawed for a moment and that was all Matt needed before he punched the guy in the dick.

Tony was smart enough to realize this was The Devil fighting, ducking and weaving the weak hits from the guy easily, like a boxer but with far fancier moves. Its less over-the-top then the adult Daredevil’s usual style. But, its effective, and shoots ice down Tony’s veins. Daredevil is used to fighting at this age, and he's not just comfortable with it, but he's good, too. And more than that, he seems used to fighting opponents much larger than he is, which sends Tony’s blood boiling. 

Through the flames churning in his chest, Tony watches as Matt beats this teenager to pulp. “That's enough, kid, let him go.” Tony tries to go for stern, but he's worried it comes off more as concerned. 

Peter gets up from his seat and moves to pull Matt off of the guy, who seems to have passed out, at some point. Tony notices the tears fresh on the kid’s cheeks, almost instantly that’s taken all of his focus. Shit, what happened. Tony launched forward to kneel next to the kid, “Hey, hey, hey, hey… kid, its alright,” Tony moved to wipe the kid’s cheek with the back of his hand.

Matt immediately collapsed into him, face burying itself in his shoulder. “He aimed- he- he almost shot you!” Matt hiccuped, wiping his teary face on Tony’s shirt..

“Hey, it's alright, I was fine, Matty” Tony threw out the affectionate name easily, curling around the kid that was sobbing in his arms. Matt bawled harder and latched onto him. Tony was vaguely aware of Peter talking to the cashier above him, but he was fully distracted. 

“You- if he shot you…” The kid sniffled into his shirt, “you could have-” 

Tony rose his arm around Matt’s neck, shushing him gently, “Hey, im fine, listen, you can still hear my heart, can't you?” Tony asked softly. The kid was silent for a moment, besides the soft sniffling into his chest. The kid hummed a yes before hugging onto his side. 

“See, im here, im fine.” Tony spoke softly to the kid, who was still shaking in his arms. 

“I’m- I’m sorry that I couldn’t” Matt whispered into his collar bone, “I wasn’t listening, and I could’ve” his voice caught “I should have heard him, I’m sorry” 

“Hey, it’s not your fault, it’s not your job to be listening” Tony’s chin was pressed into the soft brown hair on the kid’s head. 

“But i-” Matt started, but Tony wasn't having that. He shushed him and pulled him closer.

Peter was standing over them, a worried look on his face, “hey, the cops are on their way, we should probably get back to the tower. Unless you feel like explaining the ninja child in the room” 

Tony turned towards the shocked cashier, who was still staring at Tony with wide eyes. Tony smiled at them again, walking over to put another twenty in the tip jar. 

“Alight, to the tower it is.” Tony turned towards Matt, grabbing his hand, “were gonna go to my house now, it’s a big building out in the city” 

The boy nodded, pressing the side of his face on Tony’s jacket sleeve. Tony sighed, ruffling the kids hair with his other hand as they walked out onto the street. They walked in silence for awhile, the quiet sniffles from the kid slowly fading out. 

“Hey buddy?” Tony eventually broke the silence as they walked down the street towards the tower. 

“Yes, Tony” At least the kid listened to him and didn’t say ‘sir’ this time, but with the tone that he said ‘Tony’ with, he might as well have.

Tony shrugged off the anger that came with that realization to level his voice into a faked calmness, “you mind telling me how you learned to fight like that,” Tony paused at the shock weaving its way into the kid’s expression, “you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Oh- um, Stick trained me after he found me in the orphanage” The kid worried his lip, Tony had to fight the urge to tell him to stop before he made it bleed.

“How’d he find you?” Tony shook his head. 

The kid was speaking softer now, almost like he didn’t notice how quiet he was being, the clicking of his cane on the cement far louder than his words, “I don’t know,” The kid clung a little tighter to his wrist, “but he knew about my powers, and helped me with them” 

So the powers didn’t come from the ninja child training, then. “Where’d you get your powers?” Tony urged him on. So at least this, probably, wasn't human experimentation creating child-super-soldiers. Just, training child soldiers that already were supers. Oh god if Matt was taken. 

The kid froze at that, squeezing his hand hard enough to hurt, “um, when I went blind, from the chem’cels” The kid hiccuped, shit he was getting upset. Tony held the kid tighter in return and Matt rubbed his eyes before continuing. “After I went blind, the rest of my senses got all- better. Like allot better.”

Tony was the one worrying his lip between his teeth now. “Are those you’re only powers, then?” 

The kid shrugged his shoulders, “yeah, but I can punch really well” The kid smiled up at him, 

“can’t we all,” Tony chuckled, “hey buddy, do you know why this Stick guy taught you how to fight?” 

Matt went silent for a few seconds too long after that, before shrugging and turning back to Tony, “Stick always said it was to fight his war,” 

Oh shit, who trains a child to fight their battles. That’s disgusting. “Oh, ok” Tony didn’t say much else for the rest of the walk back to the tower, but held the kid closer for the rest of the walk. 

They made it to the tower and Matty stopped near the entrance, “There's alot of people in there?” 

“There is, it's a very big building” Tony said as he lead him and Peter towards the elevator. 

“Excuse me, Tony” a small hand tugged on his sleeve, Matt was pointing at the wall of the elevator, “you don’t have Braille on your floors, can’t even feel the buttons.” He spoke like he was apologizing and it broke Tony’s heart. Tony decided to make sure he did that, also because that was probably illegal and he didn’t want lawyers after him. 

“Oh, that’s because I don’t have any buttons on my elevator” Tony said, 

The kid looked dumbfounded, “you should put a sign saying that… with Braille” 

“I’ll have to,” Tony hummed, “alright, ready kid, I’m about to talk to my ai, so when you hear a voice but can’t hear her heartbeat, don’t be like, alarmed” Tony shrugged “she’s the one I was talking to in my suit earlier” 

“Aight” The kid mumbled. 

“Hey Friday?” Tony asked the ai, “could you take us to the common floor” 

“Sure, sir” the robotic voice rang from the speakers. 

Matty did the thing where he scrunched his nose, which has become an iconic look for him, in the past few hours of being an adorable child. “How come she gets to call you sir?”

“Because she’s a robot and I made her to do what I want her to,” Tony grimaced when Matt looked like he was about to say something, “and you’re not.” He said with as much of an air of finality as he could. 

“And it’s weird, I usually just call him Mr.Stark, but he prefers Tony” Peter said from behind him. God bless him for shifting the subject of the conversation so quickly. 

“Mr.Stark,” the ai said from above him, and god bless her for being smart enough not to call him sir again, “I heard the conversation about the signage and added it to your to-do list.” 

“Thanks, Fri” Tony huffed, turning to look back towards Matty, “can you update the others on our new friend,” Tony spoke towards Matt, “hey Matty, we might hang out with some more of my superhero friends, I can tell them to all hang out away from us if you aren’t comfortable meeting them?”

“No that’s fine,” he looked towards the direction Tony was in, “I’d love to meet your allies,” 

Tony smiled, “my friends are really nice, you’ll love them” 

The door opened to Captain America twiddling his thumbs and waiting for them by the couch, “Hi” he smiled towards them. 

“hey,” Tony said, following Matt and Peter out of the elevator. Pete was following Matty with that stupid dopey smile on his face, responding excitedly and describing the room to him. 

“Hey, I have to do some research, can you watch the kids for me?” Tony asked Cap, and wow, that sounded so domestic Tony would say he almost barfed, if the absurdity of it didn’t make him smile. Buzzfeed would have a field day with this. “The ‘super’ sweet domestic lives of the avengers’’ or something. 

“Oh, yeah sure.” Steve said, “is he still mad at me?” 

“No, I told him you were a friend, i wouldn’t make any moves that could be interpreted as intent to hurt me, though.” Tony laughed, “Just humor him, he’s like ten, he’s a cute kid, really.” 

Steve nodded like that was the most important mission he’d ever received and padded off towards the kitchen, where Matt was opening all the cupboards for literally no reason other than the fact he was ten and that was fun. He could already smell everything in them, or something. 

Peter was helping him open the taller ones, once again this day was growing more and more grossly domestic. 

After a few minutes of watching the kids be gross and cute he called Peter over. 

“Hey Pete, you know if big Matty has any other super friends?” 

“I know he teamed up with a few of the other vigilantes” Peter scrunched up his nose again “course I wasn’t invited.” 

“Peter, you’re never invited to things, you just show up swinging” Tony quipped without giving it much thought, watching as tiny Matt was making Captain help him get out the ingredients for some sort of sugary toast mess. Steve was helping him climb up to the counter, because he was the irresponsible dad, apparently. Where was Clint when you needed him, he’s the only avenger who actually has any previous experience with children. 

“Hey could you make sure Lucy doesn’t burn himself or something, I have some calls to make” he told Peter. Clearly sensing he was being shooed away, Peter joined Matt and Steve in the kitchen. 

Tony sighed as he brought up one of his hologram screens, googling Daredevil in the news. 

He could still hear Peter and Matt talking in the kitchen, Matt was apparently teaching Peter the fully balanced meal that was something called ‘lava toast’ Peter was either really good with kids and was pretending to be excited, or the more likely option, Pete was pumped to learn how to make the gross sugar mess. Though, with how cute the kid sounded describing it, Tony kind of wanted to learn more about the mess. If it meant the kid would keep acting like a kid.

Tony speed-read through the news surrounding The Devil, there was a lot of it. Like news about Spider-man. It must be the shear amount of crime they stop on their nightly ‘patrols’ ‘Cept, The Devil was less into helping little old ladies across the street, and more into stopping international drug rings. 

And he doesn’t even have any kind of enhanced durability or a healing factor. Who’s letting this asshole run around acting like his powers were more than ‘can smell the bad guys really well.” Christ. Tony’s gonna have to have a stern talking to adult Devil when he comes back. And by that Tony means he’s going to make a ton of tech to make sure he doesnt die in an alley, because what else would he do. 

There, right in between ‘Daredevil runs into burning inferno to save family pet’ and ‘Daredevil takes on an entire mafia in one night’ exactly what he was looking for. 

“The Defenders take down villains, and an entire building in midland circle, with them” what a headline. 

Tony opens up the article. “Jessica Jones, Harlem’s hero; Luke Cage, and the new hero on the block calling himself ‘iron fist’ teamed up to fight a crime syndicate that had taken root in the Kitchen’s midland circle. It has been rumored that Hell’s kitchen’s own, Daredevil, was on the scene at some point, but he has not been available for questioning since.” 

Ok, so the dude had a superhero team, “the team was unable to stop the group of villains before they blew up the tower. Luckily the three heroes and a few civilians made it out before the collapse. Misty Knight, a cop on the scene-“ yada yada, The usual stuff, Tony scrolled faster, making a note to check out this cop who got her arm chopped off by a villian due to superhero nonsense, he had a ton of metal arms laying around for Steve’s new (old?) best friend. He could spare a few. 

Ok, he’s read enough, he has names of some heroes who are probably at least friends with The Devil. You can’t fight crime with someone without becoming friends. And by the sound of what the article wasn’t saying, this must have been something big. Ok, first name in the article, Jessica Jones. Now he had to find a contact, why can't every superhero team have a widely known base of operations. 

A quick google search revealed her to be a super-powered private investigator, and she didn’t even have some stupid superhero name, which was a shame. It barely took him twenty seconds to get her number and call it. 

An incredibly drunk sounding woman ended up picking up the phone on the fourth ring. Hey, this was his kind of hero. “hello?”

“Hey, this is Tony Stark. You’re Jessica Jones, right?”

The other line went quiet for a second, talking replaced with what sounded suspiciously like someone’s head hitting a desk. “Yes?” A very tired voice said after a second. 

“I’m calling about Daredevil-“

“Of course you are” the voice interrupted, with the squeaking of a cheap leather chair as the person on the other side leaned back into it. 

“Yeah, he’s been turned into a ten year old, I was wondering if you knew anything about his life back then?” Tony picked his words carefully, this whole ‘child soldier’ thing wasn’t his story to tell, and if she didn’t know it, big Matty probably didn’t want her to. 

“ I don’t know, shitty? That’s how it is for most of y’all ‘heroes’ isn’t it?” Jones spoke in a way that implied she didn’t count herself as a hero. 

“Huh. I have you written down as a vigilante yourself. It says you’ve worked with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and some dude called The Iron Fist. The media’s calling you ‘The Defenders’ which is rude, by the way,” 

There was a dry laugh on the other side of the phone. “Listen, I’m not.. one of those. I just did that thing with the ninjas for a case, I didn’t want to be there” 

“Alright-” 

The voice on the other end of the line interrupted him again, “listen, if you want to know more about their stupid ninja cult or whatever, Rand is probably your guy, ok, by, stop bothering me.” There was a click on the other end as Jones hung up. 

Ok, now he has the name of someone else in ‘their’ weird little ninja cult. The idea of some other little kid in the same place as Matty makes his hands shake as he grabs the phone. What kind of villain would someone make child soldiers for, whoever it was, Tony wouldn’t mind sending a repulsor blast through their heart. How many of these kids were out there? 

Now, Tony only knows one ‘Rand’ in new york, and that would be the one from Rand enterprises. He hasn’t gotten to speak to him since he returned from living with monks in the Himalayas or whatever, but if he didn’t recognize something that sounds so suspiciously like its part of a superhero’s over-the-top backstory for what it was, who would he be.

The more he thought about it, the more this Rand guy sounded like he could have had the same mysterious backstory as Matty. Tony could break his new starkphone prototype in half. Whoever these ninja-monk assholes were, they were getting the full Wrath of Iron Man as soon as he found out where they were. 

Tony had to find his number for Rand enterprises in his Stark industries folders, which took him awhile since he was elbow deep in the ‘superhero junk’ side of his files. 

After a split second of ringing a young sounding secretary picked up the phone, saying something or other that Tony ignored. 

“Hey, this is Tony Stark, I need to speak to Danny Rand” 

The secretary must have been shocked into silence because it took her a second to speak again, “oh, um- yeah, of course Mr.Stark, are you sure you don’t want to speak to one of the Meachums?” By the end of the sentence she had recovered her secretary voice. 

 

Tony smiled into the receiver, “no, I need to talk to Daniel Rand, it’s important” he put on his ‘mm yes this is avengers business let me do whatever I want’ voice on that last half. 

And of course, terrified of the ‘I am iron man’ voice, she let him do whatever he wanted. “Um, ok- he’s out right now but I can page you through to his personal?”

“Yeah that fine” Tony settled into his chair as he heard the click of the call going through. 

“Mr.Stark, what did you want with my company?” The identifiable voice of a practical child doing a ‘business’ voice spoke through the other end. Tony was reminded of how young the Rand kid was, barely twenty or somewhere around there. 

“Nothing, I need you for spandexed crime fighting reasons” And god, Tony could hear the gears turning full speed in the guy’s head. 

 

Tony sighed into the receiver, “I don’t actually need your superpowers or whatever, I was told you know about why Daredevil was trained.” He left out the ‘as a child soldier’ along with the ‘and also maybe you’ but that was a question for later. 

Rand was silent for a second before he spoke again, “the chaste?” He asked. 

Tony, mentally put that down as ‘kill the chaste’ but spoke as nonchalantly as normal, “yeah, sure, whatever. This is on short notice, but come by the tower, so we can talk about this in person?” The question may not have been phrased like one, but it was delivered with maybe a bit more asking than Tony meant it to. 

“Uh- yah, sure. Mr.stark?” Oh my god he’s calling him ‘Mr.Stark’ why does every vigilante do this, Why is it even the ones that hopefully can drive do this. How young was Rand again? “Any reason you’re interested in this topic?” Rand asked from the other side of the phone. 

Tony shrugged, even though the other couldn’t see it, “Red’s been magically turned into a child, it’s actually less cute baby devil and more depressing than you’d think it would be” 

“Oh shit,” the other responded, “yeah I’ll make my way over soon” 

Tony let him stumble over how to say goodbye to Tony Stark before he hung up with a “bye, love you” 

Tony stood up from his chair and stretched, “I called Danny Rand, he’s coming over in a few hours to talk about his tragic backstory or something” Tony yelled into the kitchen. “He’s a friend” Tony explained as he saw the slightly annoyed look on Matt’s face as he looked up from the toaster oven. He was still sitting on the counter, criss cross applesauce and everything. 

“I’m beginning to think he was bit by a radioactive child abuser,” Tony huffed as he opened the fridge, almost grabbing alcohol before remembering the children and Steve in the room. All people he shouldn’t corrupt more than they already are. He grabs some unhealthy juice thing Clint must have bought, instead.

“So, what are you little chefs doing?” Tony looked over a tiny shoulder at the microwave oven, where a piece of toasted white bread was bubbling with half melted sugar.

”Lava toast” Steve chuckled as he twisted the little yellow plastic thing back onto the bread. 

“It’s quite possibly, the most important thing I’ve ever been taught” Peter said with barely faked seriousness. 

“Huh.” Tony said with mock offense “what am I, chopped liver?” 

“I’m sorry, Tony, no mentor can teach me more” Peter retorted, smiling. 

Tony huffed a laugh, “well then I guess I need to learn about this sugar filled wonder too”

Matt spoke up from where he was still listening (smelling? Feeling? Don’t know.) the toaster oven. “M’dad taught me how to make it” he had that dopey smile on his face, the one every child could do apparently, Tony was weak. “oh? So what’s in it?” Tony let the fondness show in his voice, “or do you not want to share the secret recipe?”

The kid furrowed his eyebrows, “it’s honey, brown sugar, butter, and enough cinnamon to where it kinda burns your mouth when you eat it, s’why it’s called lava toast” the kid laughed, “oh, and the toast!” 

“Ah, bread the most important part” Steve spoke up from beside him. 

“No, the bread is just a vehicle to get the lava from the table to your mouth, right Matty?” Peter was smiling from next to Matt. Somehow he’d gotten from the floor to the ceiling without Tony noticing. 

“Yeah!” Matt smiled, “the cinnamons probably the most important, but everything needs to be balanced.” 

“nice, you get it you pint sized superhero, balance. Good and evil, life and death, sugar and bread, the natural balance of nature.” Tony laughed again. He’s already got down the art of the over-the-top cliche. 

Matt shot up from counter, pushing Steve out of the way, and grabbing the oven mitt. “It’s done!” He announced as he took the pan out of the toaster oven. 

Steve moved the hot square under the pan as Peter moved to grab a plate. 

Matt leaned over the side of the counter and grabbed a butter knife from the drawer, “I’ll cut it into pieces, so we can all share.” 

Matt cutt the slice of bread into pieces, a shit eating grin over his face as he gave himself and Peter the biggest ones. 

The doors to the elevator opened and the only resident dad in the tower walked into the common floor, “I am so lucky I was in town this month, so I got the chance to meet you.” He smiled as he held out a hand for Matt to shake, “I’m holding out a hand for you to shake, by the way” he narrated. 

Matt smiled, “I know, my names Matt” before he moved to shake his hand he looked towards Tony, who nodded back to him. 

Clint smiled as he shook the tiny hand, “well my names Clint, but some people call me Hawkeye” 

Matty nodded, “you’re a superhero too?” He asked. 

“Yup” Clint said, popping the ‘p’. 

Matt smiled, cutting his own piece of sugar mess in half before giving one of them to Clint, Tony’s heart could burst. Oh my god. How was this kid so sweet. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” he hummed as he handed the toast to Clint, whose smile was broad, “it’s always nice to meet new allies” 

Clint’s smile faltered but he didn’t make any other show, boy did Tony get that feeling, “it’s nice to meet you too, buddy” Clint smiled as he took a bite of the sugar mess. “Oh my god! This is amazing” 

The rest of them followed by trying their own pieces, various only slightly exaggerated reactions and compliments to the chef later, they had finished their delicious sugar mess and Friday informed them Danny Rand had arrived at the tower. 

“I’ll go get him,” Tony turned to Steve, “could you watch the kids, I know it will be hard with all three of them,” Tony pointed to Clint.

Steve laughed “I think I’ll be fine.” 

Tony huffed as he looked to see Peter following him into the elevator. 

Peter scoffed, “What? I want to meet The Iron Fist”

“You and your super-ears, you probably didn’t even know who he was until you over heard my calls”

“Hey now! I know everything there is to know about my fellow vigilantes,” Peter scoffed. 

Tony leaned against the wall of the elevator “so, you know him?” 

“Kind of?” Peter shook his head,”he was pretending to be Matt after he died a while ago,” 

“He- he’s not dead, peter” Tony furrowed his eyebrows.

“I know he’s back now, Mr.Stark” Peter wasn’t looking at him, “he didn’t tell anybody what happened, when he came back” peter shook his head, “at least no one I’ve talked to has known” 

“That’s not ominous at all” Tony laughed, “I’m just gonna assume he was frozen in ice, until proven otherwise”

Tony motioned Peter to follow him as he walked into the main lobby, where a young blond guy was standing awkwardly near the reception. He couldn’t have been older than twenty-two and had his fists curled at his sides.

He lit up when he saw Tony, “Stark!” He yelled as he rushed over to the elevator. 

Tony motioned him to join them, “this is Peter, my intern.”

Danny did a small wave towards Peter

The ‘iron fist’ was shuffling from foot to foot on the other side of the elevator. He looked insanely nervous. 

Tony crossed his arms as he leaned against the side of the elevator “so... you’re the Iron Fist... I think I have a copyright on the whole ‘iron’ thing but that’s your name I guess”

“the iron fist is a mantle that’s been passed down long before you took up copyright on your ‘iron man’ thing” Rand was still a ball of restless movement.

“passed down?” Tony asked before almost regretting it, “God, don’t care. Anyway. I want to know more about the whole thing you little vigilante’s have going on”

“are you sure you want to do this with” Danny motioned completely unsubtly at peter, “him, here”

“Nah, he’s well into the whole superhero thing,” Tony shrugged, “plus if this is a secret identity thing, you're not very good at it.”

“So cough it up, what's the deal with” he gestured towards all of Danny, “What's your power, gimme the details. How'd you get em? Accident, experimentation, something with radioactivity? That ones popular.” Tony shot a side-eyed smile at Peter.

Danny Rand, completely deadpan, looked at him and said “I punched a dragon in the heart.” Like that was a normal thing to say. 

Tony took a second to blink at him before he responded “that sounds about right” 

“oh woah that's so cool! I've never seen a dragon!” Peter smiled up at Iron Fist. 

Danny turned to Pete, still completely serious “They're very rare.”

“Ok enough of… that, we need to get to why i called you here, Daredevil-“ Tony started. 

Danny ran his hand through his short hair “so.. did you want my help because of my magic?”

Oh, dragon boy is magic, of course dragon boy is magic. Why wouldn’t dragon boy be magic. 

Tony shrugged, “honestly, i just wanted gossip but sure, why not.” Tony looked to Peter before talking to Rand again, “we already talked to Dr.Strange and he said he couldn’t help, if you’re magic, we’ll see what you can do.” 

Danny Rand nodded. 

“Ok, yeah, sure, why not. This could work,” Tony turned to The Iron Fist, “can it work?”

Danny nodded, “I can center my chi to-“

“Yeah, sounds good glitterfist,” Tony said as the elevator doors opened, “ the little devil is upstairs, right now Cap is watching him. But before you do this, i wanted to ask you some things.” Tony motioned Rand to stay in the elevator for a moment, knowing full well that the kid will still be able to hear. 

“all joking aside; Someone hurt that kid out there, bad. He’s a child soldier, trained to fight for someone. He’s mentioned a war on multiple occasions,” Tony shook his head, “its gross.” 

“He mentioned being trained by that guy from the Chaste, but i didn't… realize.” Rand took a step back, he almost looked like he was going to puke. 

“The Chaste?” Tony asked, “Who are they, where are they?”

Rand didn’t appear to be listening, he didn’t need to listen to his heartbeat to tell he was freaking out. “Christ, how old did you say he was?” 

“He’s eleven, but he must have started training earlier, at some point.” Tony explained. 

“Fuck.” Rand was pale, Tony knew the vigilantes we’re friends but, he wasn’t expecting him to be this affected by the news. 

“Tony-“ Peter started, but Tony waved him off. This was important, the adults were talking. 

“Rand, Do you know anything else about this Chaste?” Tony asked. Come on, a supervillain group that did shit like this? To children? Who could they be working for. This was clearly an avengers level threat. If it wasn’t, it is now. 

“Tony-“ Peter said again, voice more forceful, but Tony waved him off again.

“They- they were supposed to be an army to help- to fight The Hand” Danny let out a shaky breath, “but they were destroyed when we fought the Hand, back at Midland circle” 

Tony’s mind clicked, Midland circle, the team up in the news, of course it was more than just another criminal organization. Shit must have gone down fighting the guys who did this to matt. 

“Who were the hand?” Tony was getting confused, there were to many names being thrown around. Tony just needs to know the names of the guys who did this. 

“The Hand are- were an organization of immortal ninjas, lead by a group that had escaped K’un-Lun, seeking immortality” the iron fist explained quickly, voice still slightly hoarse. 

“Like in ninja turtles?” Tony could hear Peter mumble quietly, “like the foot?” 

Rand seemed to hear him too, because he looked more than offended “the hand is immortal they’ve been around since like, forever.” He shook his head, “nothing like the ninja turtles.” Danny Rand took a step back, hitting the wall of the elevator “they were going to destroy New York, I’m the sworn enemy of the hand, The Iron Fist. I was trained to fight the hand, Matt died fighting the hand.” He was looking at his hand as he talked. 

“You’re the enemy of the hand?” Tony asked, “I thought the chaste were the bad guys?”

“They weren’t- or at least I don’t think they were… supposed to be?” The fire left Rand’s eyes, he looked like a confused teenager again. 

“Supposed to be?” Tony echoed, questioning. 

“The chaste was supposed to follow the iron fist into battle to defeat the hand” he explained, “I had no idea they-“ he looked sick again, “...Christ” 

Tony put his hand out in a motion of comfort “hey, you think you’re up to magic him back to adult size right now?”

“Yeah- yeah of course” Rand shook his head as he followed them out of the elevator. “It’s the least I could do” 

Matty was sitting on the couch in the common room with Captain. The tv was playing some movie neither of them were really listening to. They both looked to be almost asleep. Tony smiled fondly as he entered the room, quietly tapping Steve on the head and shushing him before he woke up matt. 

Captain shot him a look before he remembered the eleven year old sitting next to him, “what?” He mouthed. 

Matt woke up anyway, immediately reaching up and clinging to Tony’s arm. He choked up as he squeezed his hand softly “hey little guy” 

Rand had walked into the room and was staring at the couch like he couldn’t process what was happening. 

“Hey matty,” tony motioned to Rand, “this is Danny, he's here to help you,” tony paused waiting for the kids reaction. 

He nodded and looked towards Danny, who moved closer to the couch, “hi, I’m the Iron Fist, that means my Fist can glow like this,” Rand’s fist glowed a soft orange as held it up “do you feel the heat coming off of it?,” 

Matt nodded, and Danny continued, “I can use it to heal people, so I just gotta hold your hand, are you ok with that?” He asked softly, still kneeling on the ground.

“Yeah,” matt confirmed, holding out his hand for Danny to take. 

His hand started to glow again, but this time he opened up his fist, the glow spreading to illuminate most of the room in the soft orange light.

“I can.. feel the magic, it’s pink and-“ Rand cocked his head the side, “feels like candy” 

“Yeah that sounds about right” tony laughed, he went for suave and Tony-Starky but the worry weaved its way into the half hearted delivery of the joke.

“It’s, it’s clogged up through his blood, I, I can sense it.” As the iron fist talked, the muted blue of Matt’s veins glowed with a strong gold, shining from underneath the skin. 

“Can you.. do anything about it?” Steve asked from behind the couch, leaning over to look at the kid.

His forehead was shining gently, muffled. 

“It’s all over this little part towards the middle of his head,” Rand’s voice was strained. 

“His hippocampus?” Tony breathed, after a moment he added, “where the memories are stored.” 

Danny hummed, like he didn’t really process it, his eyes were closed and the glow of his hand was bleeding up his wrist. He breathed in sharply as he lost contact with Matt’s hand. 

Matt’s hold on Tony’s arm softened as he fell over into the pillows of the couch, unconscious.

Tony caught his head, moving quickly to place a pillow under him.

The glow from the iron fist simmered out as he let go of Matt’s hand, “hes.. good” he mumbled before he started to fall sideways. 

“Woah!” Steve yelped as he caught the falling vigilante.

“Could you take him to medical? And tell them to send someone up here to check on Matt.”

Steve nodded as he picked up the unconscious superhero, “can you call me if he wakes up at all?”

“Of course,” Tony responded after a pause, distracted by rubbing circles in Matt’s hand.

Tony lost track of time after a moment, before he knew it, someone from medical was looking matt over. 

“He seems to be perfectly healthy,” they hummed, “he’s just asleep,” 

Tony nodded, “I’m sure we’ll half to do some follow up test after all this?”

“Yeah, that would be best” the nurse said as a goodbye, as he places his equipment back into his bags. 

Tony went to go find some clothes for Daredevil to put on once he got back to normal size. 

He placed them and a glass of water on the coffee table adjacent to the couch, before leaving to give the other hero some time. 

Adult Matt probably wouldn’t want to see him when he woke up anyway, if he remembers this at all. 

“Friday, can you tell me when he wakes up?” Tony asked the ai, worrying over the blanket he was placing over the kid. 

“Sure, sir” the robotic voice answered him. 

Tony nodded, “and could you update the adult Matt on what’s happened?” Tony asked as he got into the elevator. 

“Of course” Friday confirmed. 

Tony sat down on the couch in the living room on his floor and answered emails he’d needed to get to for weeks now. He debated heading to the lab, work on some stuff with the music blaring, forget about the sleeping soon to not be eleven year old. 

“Sir, daredevil seems to be awake,” Friday alerted him, interrupting his thoughts. 

“That was quick,” Tony ran a hand through his hair, stuffing his stark phone back into his pocket. 

“He’s changing into the pair of clothes you left him now, you should be fine to visit him” the ai reported. 

“I don’t think I-“ Tony started, leaning against the arm of the couch. 

“He has asked for you to come” Friday said, “he is waiting for you” 

Tony sighed as he got into the elevator, preparing himself. 

Matty- matt. Mathew? Adult matt? Daredevil. Daredevil was sitting at the counter drinking the glass of water he had left, he was already looking towards where Tony was before he actually got in the room. 

“Hey- I-“ Daredevil started, doing stunted motions with his hands, “thanks,” he took a sip from his glass after a moment. 

“Oh, um- you’re welcome, there’s really no need to-“  
tony took a step back from the doorway, waving his hand dismissively. 

“No, I’m thanking you” matt interrupted him, smiling as he clicked his glass on the counter as he got up from the stool. 

Tony hummed, still standing awkwardly in the doorway. 

“It means a lot to me- i...” daredevil did a little shrug “now- when I try to remember being eleven, I don’t think of stick- or training. The first memories that come to mind are you and peter, and ice cream and meeting Captain America” a smile fell over the hero’s face as his words drowned out “thanks” 

Matty took a step forward and wrapped tony into a hug. He was taller than him now. 

Matt pulled away, and tony almost shrunk back before matty did his signature scrunched-up nose look, “You smell even worse like bad expensive shampoo from up close.” 

“Excuse me?” Tony laughed, running a hand through his hair. 

Matt laughed in return.

Tony’s hand fell from his hair to rub the back of his neck, “I uh, wanted to tell you, you’re uh… you’re welcome back at the tower whenever.” Tony threw on a smile, “Clint wants to meet you- the real you- the adult one” 

“Clint-Hawkeye?” Daredevil scrunched up his nose again, 

“Yeah, that’s his name.” 

“I’ve fought with him before, against the mob” daredevil laughed, “ can’t believe he forgot”

Tony shook his head, “he doesn’t like to consider fighting ‘meeting’ he likes to site Bruce as why we’re not ourselves while we’re fighting”

Matt smiled, “yeah, I’d love to meet them all.” 

Tony smiled, settling down onto the common room’s couch, “so, we aren’t fighting the wizards anymore”

Matt looked confused, sitting up on the couch, “Yes?”

Tony smirked, “you said once we finished the fight, that you’d tell me how you met peter?”

Matty smirked, “oh, I found him half dead in a dumpster”


End file.
